not released and the SA guy also has UK passport and the bad guys now know this. they now want the UK to release someone in exchange for this guy. the UK does not talk to terrorists, so it doesn't look too good at the moment.

Thanks for waking this thread up. I frequently think of this poor guy and what he must be going through. It seems that there's simply no-one to help him - at least publicly. No-one knows what is going on in Mali. It used to be such a steady and safe place but the Libyan conflict destabilised the whole area. Now it's the Wild West. The only law is the law of the gun it seems. I feel for the thousands whose ordinary lives are disrupted by all these bandits, thieves, thugs and zealots.